Category Archives: Satasang

Good Morning friends,

After a long time I was free on Sunday and was with family all the day. As yesterday was first Sunday of the October, we have 3SRB sebir at Manav Parivar. It finish around 10-00 am. From 10-00 am onwards I was at home with family.

Diwali is going to come in last week of October. In my house it’s time for Diwali cleaning. You all will surprise to know this word Diwali Cleaning? Diwali cleaing is the act to clean the whole house at the time of Diwali festival. In Gujarat and particularly in ahmedabad, when Festival of Diwali comes people use to clean there house. People renovate the house, people get it repaired, and people clean everything if house. Same situation is there in my hosue too.

From last 4 days it was going on and on Sunday it was the tourn of our drawing room and my bed room. So, I was given instruction from morning that I have to stay outside the room all the day today, no rest, no sleep, just have to keep all the kids with me for One day today. I stay in joint family and I am having 6 kids in the family. We are having The (D) SMART team in my family. D- Smart team is made of following team members. The (D)Dhyaan Patel, Shivam Patel, Maharshi Patel, Aastha Patel, Rishi Patel, Tirth Patel.

I am going to talk on each of these D –Smart team member in next post. In the evening it was really good time, we all sit together for 4 hours. After long time we all were able to sit together for these much long. We also planed to have wood blinds instead of curtains in our home. There are several different types of window blinds and shade products to choose from and we can purchase blinds online. We decided to take the measurement first. I was thinking if we don’t have Sunday than the life is? I want to conclude with the comment that Yes, Sunday makes me relax and recharge me for this new week starts from today.

Good Morning Friends, Sunday, September 07, 2008. I was reading following article on times of india’s website and I love to read it.

The idea that man needs God to tell us how to behave morally, to be kind and thoughtful towards our fellow man, to aid others without any promise of benefit to ourselves, is a central tenet of most religions.

To emphasize the point, we are told that if we do not obey God’s moral law, we will spend an eternity in hell while if we do obey the moral code, we will spend an eternity of bliss in heaven.

Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health is the head of the Human Genome Project responsible for sequencing the three billion base pairs of the human genome.

In 2007, this eminent scientist wrote a book titled ‘The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief ’. He recounts that in his early years as a scientist, he was an atheist but one day, he had an epiphany and came to believe that man could not be a moral animal without the aid of a god given moral law. As a result of this realization, he became of person of faith.

This epiphany blew me away because although he was a geneticist, he found the extensive genetic evidence that altruism was an inborn genetic trait unconvincing. He also believed that while the development of all other living organisms on earth was the result of Darwinian evolution, the evolution of man was special and was guided by the hand of God.

Surveys have shown that most scientists , especially those in the field of the biological and genetic sciences , are non-theists , partly because they so strongly believe that Darwinian evolution was responsible for the origin of the species, including man.

As a fellow geneticist, I was surprised that this eminent scientist was both disavowing the decades of research into the genetics of altruism and proposing that humans were so unique that God was required to guide the evolution of humans. This was uncomfortably close to the tenants of the Intelligent Design creationists.

I wish to just address the issue of altruism as an inborn genetic trait. Altruism is defined as aiding another individual while incurring personal costs to oneself. For example, if I jump into a raging river to save my son from drowning, I place myself at risk of drowning. This behaviour of being kind and helpful to others is a central tenet to of Christian thought, the golden rule, consisting of treating others, as you would like to be treated.

One of the best examples of altruism in the animal kingdom is the behaviour of sterile worker honeybees who sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the queen bee. Darwin was quite concerned about altruism, fearing that it seemed to directly contradict his theory of survival of the fittest, thus allowing better genes to be passed on to the next generation.

Worker bees are sterile and thus, derive no direct benefit for their altruistic acts and cannot pass on their genes. Darwin’s solution to this apparent contradiction of this theory was to suggest that the survival benefit did not always have to apply to the individual — it could also apply to the relatives of the individual. Thus, a sterile worker bee helping the queen to survive would help guarantee the preservation of the genes of the whole family.

This became known as the ‘kin selection’ theory. As if his general theory of the evolution of the species were not enough of a problem for religions to swallow, Darwin was now suggesting that selfsacrificial behaviour, generally considered only to be within the purview of religion, was also biologically controlled and could occur in animals was well as humans.

Good Morning friends, Thursday, September 04, 2008. Today is Thursday, so day starts with prayer at dadaji’s house. At AMA, y’day it was time of Swami Atmaanda of Vedanta Mission. HE said we need to dare to dream Big. Following is complete news.

The important thing in one’s life is to set a goal for oneself and strive hard to achieve it, said founder of Vedanta Mission, Indore, Swami Atmananda.

Speaking at the lecture series being held at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on ‘Inspirations for purposeful living symbolized by Lord Ganesha’ , Swamiji said, “To set a goal, we need to dream and dare to dream big. One then prepares himself to take on challenges and responsibilities to discover one’s real potential. Your limits to achieve the set goal are decided by you. One makes one’s own destiny. And, this is the crux of life.”

The problems will be there. The amount of patience to tackle the problems reflects the real limits of persons facing problems, he added.

For goal seekers, there is no better role model than Lord Ganesha. Rather than focusing on issues like his big ears or big belly, the right thing to is to accept that Lord Ganesha represents a holistic view and embodiment of all the best values . Lord Ganesha is unique.

“To achieve a goal, belief is necessary. The foremost thing is what the goal in your mind is. A great goal can make a great person. If one is unable to think of a goal, no actions, not even a miracle can help one to become great. Two important attitudes are also necessary to attain the set goal. One is “attention” and the other is “attentiveness.” A focused attention helps to increase the “concentration power,” which makes it easy to reach the goal. But to concentrate, one must practice it.”

“We must focus on ‘ dhyaan ‘ to build power concentration. The power of concentration is already there, but we have to polish it and use it with efficacy. A particular point has to be chosen and attention has to be focused on that. This is a ‘sadhana’ , which has to be practised with ‘shradda’ ,” Swamiji said.

The Swamiji, who has done considerable work on “stress management” and methods to combat it, had a simple advice for all those under stress. “To overcome stress, de clutch from problems” , he added.

He said it’s a mistaken belief that stress cannot be eliminated. “It is an important part of life. The men of medicine advise people to fight stress or flee from it. But there is a better way and that is to start each day as a fresh day. Leave the problems of the past behind. Do not get into the anxieties of future.”

God has created wonderful things for the mankind to ponder, appreciate and experience . The best way to handle stress is to focus on these and move ahead rather than invite stressful conditions and become victims of psychosomatic ailments, Swamiji added.

Good Morning Friends. Today is August 30, 2008. I am bit relax today because it’s Saturday. My office is on but little relax because no school to my elder son shivam. I m reading this article and I like to share with you all. It’s something I believe in.

Forgiveness-Not easy for those who don’t know the power of it and/or don’t practice it in daily life. Once we start practicing its very easy to have Forgiveness as part of our day to day characteristics. I believe that Forgiveness leads us to Happiness. Will talk more on this some other time but I like this article.

There is a lot of darkness, disharmony and suffering in our world today, a lot of injustice, and violence. And what we must realise is that we are the reason behind all this.

Indeed, the state of much of our outer world is created by the fact that many of us live very split and disconbobulated inner lives; many of us are stuck in very unhealthy conflicts, fixated in great sadness, despair and anger, all of which is continually seeping out of us and contaminating our society. I therefore believe that if we wish to move forward and create a better world, we need a lot of healing of our past.

And here, a very integral part of this process of letting go of the past lies in our ability to forgive. Indeed, we must never underestimate just how many conflicts and how much suffering still persists, because so many of us are so rigid and unyielding and not only have very little idea about how to forgive but also wholly fail to recognise the importance of it.

Defined broadly, faith healing is the attempt to use religious or spiritual means such as prayer to prevent illness, cure disease, or improve health. Those who attempt to heal by prayer, mental practices, spiritual insights, or other techniques say they can summon divine or supernatural intervention on behalf of the ill.

According to the varied beliefs of those who practice it, faith healing may be said to afford gradual relief from pain or sickness or to bring about a sudden “miracle cure”, and it may be used in place of, or in tandem with, conventional medical techniques for alleviating or curing diseases. Faith healing has been criticized on the grounds that those who use it may delay seeking potentially curative conventional medical care. This is particularly problematic when parents use faith healing techniques on children.

Janmashtami, one of the most popular festivals of Hindus celebrates the birth of their beloved God, Sri Krishna. Detailed story of Janmashtami or Lord Krishna’s birth has been narrated in Puranas. Please read on to know more about the various fascinating aspects of the legend of Janmashtami as stated in Puranas.

Mathura, a prominent town of Northern India and the birth city of Sri Krishna was ruled by King Ugrasen, a Yaduvanshi ( Belonging to the Community of Yadavs). He was a great king loved by his subjects. He had two children, a son Kansa and a daughter Devki. Kansa was quite cruel by nature, his wickedness knew no bounds when he jailed his father and forcefully became the king of Mathura.

When is Janmashtami?

Janmashtami 2008 is on August 24thJanmashtami celebrates the birth of one of the most famous Gods of Hindu religion, Bhagwan Krishna, on the eighth day (Ashtami) in the month of Sravana or Savana. Lord Sri Krishna was born on the ‘Rohini’ nakshatram (star). It is generally celebrated in the month of August-September according to the Christian Calendar. Legend has it that Sri Krishna was born on a dark, stormy and windy night to end the rule and atrocities of his maternal uncle, Kansa.

Position of Stars at the time of Birth

It was only on the eighth day of the second fortnight, in the month of Sravana when, the moon entered the house of Vrishabha in Rohini Nakshatra (star) that Lord appeared. According to Barhapatyamana, the month of Sravana corresponds to the month of Bhadrapada Krishnapaksha. Lord was born in the year of Visvavasu, appx. 5,227 years ago.

Celebrated for over Two Days

Janmashtami is celebrated for over two days as “Rohini” nakshatra and Ashtami may not fall on the same day. The first day known as Krishnashtami, as the birth of Bhagwan Krishna falls on the eighth day after Raksha Bandhan, which generally falls in the month of August. The second day is known as Kalashtami.

Welcome the Lord at Midnight

It is only at midnight between the first and the second day that birth of Sri Krishna took place. The actual festivities begin during midnight in this 48 hour period. The celebration reaches its peak at midnight, with the birth of Lord Krishna, with lot of hymns, arti taking place and blowing of the Conch (shankh), rocking the cradle of Lord. The idol of lord is bathed with Panchamrit (A mixture of milk, ghee, oil, honey and Gangajal). The Panchamrit is later distributed as Prasad to the devotees along with other sweets. While some Fast on the first day and break it at midnight for others the fasting continues for both days. The period coincides with rainy season.

Legend of Janmashtami and Rituals and Customs of Janmashtami will be in next post.

Prayer or worship is considered to be an integral part of the Hindu way of living. The chanting of mantras is the most popular form of worship in Hinduism. Yoga and meditation are also considered as a form of devotional service towards the Lord.

The Vedas are a collection of liturgy (mantras, hymns)

The Hindu devotional Bhakti movements emphasizes repetitive prayer. Stemming from the universal Soul or Brahman, prayer is focused on the personal forms of God, such Shiva, Vishnu, or Vishnu’s avatars, Rama and Krishna.

Before the process of ritual, before the invoking of different deities for the fulfillment of various needs, came the human aspiration to the highest truth, the foundational monism of Hinduism, pertaining ultimately to the one Brahman. Brahman, which summarily can be called the unknowable, true, infinite and blissful Divine Ground, is the source and being of all existence from which the cosmos springs. This is the essence of the Vedic system. The following prayer was part and parcel of all the Vedic ceremonies and continues to be invoked even today in Hindu temples all over India and other countries around the world, and exemplifies this essence.

Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate with a deity or spirit. Purposes for this may include worshipping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or to express one’s thoughts and emotions. The words of the prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, incantation or a spontaneous utterance in the person’s praying words. Secularly, the term can also be used as an alternative to “hope”. Praying can be done in public, as a group, or in private. Most major religions in the world involve prayer in one way or another.

The efficacy of prayer as a petition to a deity is usually evaluated with regard to the concept of prayer healing. There have been numerous studies done, with contradictory results. There has been some criticism of the way the studies were conducted.

The act of worship

Praying has many different forms. Prayer may be done privately and individually, or it may be done corporately in the presence of fellow believers. Prayer can be incorporated into a daily “thought life,” in which one is in constant communication with a god. Some people pray throughout all that is happening during the day and seek guidance as the day progresses. There can be many different answers to prayer, just as there are many ways to interpret an answer to a question, if there in fact comes an answer. Some may experience audible, physical, or mental epiphanies. If indeed an answer comes, the time and place it comes is considered random. Some outward acts that sometimes accompany prayer are: anointing with oil; ringing a bell; burning incense or paper; lighting a candle or candles; facing a specific direction (i.e. towards Mecca or the East); making the sign of the cross. One less noticeable act related to prayer is fasting.

A variety of body postures may be assumed, often with specific meaning (mainly respect or adoration) associated with them: standing; sitting; kneeling; prostrate on the floor; eyes opened; eyes closed; hands folded or clasped; hands upraised; holding hands with others; a laying on of hands and others. Prayers may be recited from memory, read from a book of prayers, or composed spontaneously as they are prayed. They may be said, chanted, or sung. They may be with musical accompaniment or not. There may be a time of outward silence while prayers are offered mentally. Often, there are prayers to fit specific occasions, such as the blessing of a meal, the birth or death of a loved one, other significant events in the life of a believer, or days of the year that have special religious significance. Details corresponding to specific traditions are outlined below.

Every Tuesday we are having satsang at Dadaji’s house from 6-00am to 7-30am. Today the topice was Shree Yogeshbhai Sastri’s Bhagavt Kaatha. Within that Kaath i hear satsang on Lord Krishna’s Goverdhan Lila. It was really nice way to start my tuesday.